Sunday, February 5, 2017

It’s simply hard to beat
racing in the Caribbean, and a week competing in the BVI Spring Regatta + Sailing Festivalis no exception. A highlight is always the
diversity of boats that participate across many classes - this year there will
be some 18 classes - including boats who are in for the very first time, like
the newly launched all-carbon HH66 NALA. Others, such as the J122 El Ocaso
which has competed in Spring Regatta for the past 10 consecutive years, just
keep coming back for more. Likewise, many crew will be racing BVI Spring Regatta
for the first time, while others are event old timers, coming back again
because they know just how good it all is.

HH66 NALA

NALA, the carbon rocket ship owned by Jim Vos, a dinghy
sailor and long-time boat owner, is seriously fresh out of the yard in Xiamen,
China. The brainchild of renown multi hull designers Morelli & Melvin, NALA’s
just been unloaded in Fort Lauderdale and boat captain Collin Marshall, who
lives in St John, US Virgin Islands, will be spending the next few weeks completing
the commissioning work on her before heading into the Caribbean race circuit, including BVI Spring Regatta.

At 66’-long, NALA races with a
turbo-charged rig and T-foil rudders that assist stability and reduce pitching
in big seas. Curved daggerboards help create lift at higher boat speeds
making her faster on all points of sail, Marshall explained. This all-carbon
racing machine is super light and as Marshall described, is designed for racing
in every condition.

“While we haven’t had a chance to really put it through her
paces yet she seems do pretty well in chop. She’s going to love big breeze –
being in the Caribbean is going to be fantastic once we figure out the bugs but she
is really designed for both light and heavy air regattas.” Marshall expects to race
with 10 crew on board who will be coming from all over the east and west
coasts. “We had quite a few Kiwis and
Aussies working in China on this project so we’ll have a Kiwi or two on
board - for good luck!” Marshall smiled.

Challenger

Also new to BVI Spring Regatta this year is Challenger, a modified Whitbread 60 built for the ’97 Whitbread Round the World Race but which never
made it further than Cape Town due to a financial situation. When Chris
Stanmore-Major, owner/founder of Spartan Ocean Racing, bought the boat late
2015, she had just 6,000 miles on her, having been kept in storage for years.

“She is the lowest mileage Whitbread 60 in the world. We’ve since put
20,000 miles on her and she’s been modified for the kind of racing we do, with roller
furling headsails and a change to the backstays that makes the rig a lot more
secure and even to operate for the charter crews," he said.

Challenger will race Spring Regatta with a crew of 12
sailing guests all new to the boat and two Spartan crew. The team will
spend a few days in Tortola pre regatta doing sail training aboard Challenger.
Stanmore-Major, who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, said the boat has done well
in regattas this year, chalking up first, second and third places. He’s
confident that with his staff’s collective sail training background they’ll be
able to put together a competitive team for Spring Regatta, although, oddly
enough, it’ll be his first time racing in the BVI. “All my racing has been Asia, Europe, around the world etc. so the idea
of going to this part of the Caribbean is very exciting,” Stanmore-Majors
laughed.” I’ve heard a lot about it but never had the opportunity. I’m
interested to see what goes on…”

Complementing the lineup of new boats and new people are
event veterans, like Doug Baker, from Long Beach, California. Baker first raced
the event in 2000, took a break for a number of years but has been back for the
past five events. While he’s owned plenty of fast racing boats in his time,
these days Baker prefers to charter. This year he will be at the helm of Runaway, an
ultralight sled 70 which will be racing Spring Regatta for the first time. From Peru, Runaway was the first across the line at the 2017 Cape2Rio, and will do several
Caribbean events before Baker meets her in Tortola for Spring Regatta.

Doug Baker (red cap) & crew in the BVI

"For the most part chartering works well for me, it’s cost
effective, it’s a little more for each regatta but then you don’t have the
maintenance of the boat beyond the expense of owning a boat," Baker said. "We try to do our
research - I understand Runaway's current owner has done a lot of work on the boat and
it’s in really good condition so we’re excited.”

Baker says he'll need about 15 to race
Runaway and will have a mix of pro sailors and “volunteers” on board, some whom
he has sailed with for 30-40 years, and others 15-20 years. Ernie Richau will
navigate and Chad Hough will call tactics, both are from Southern California. Baker
has done all the Caribbean events over the years, some more than four or five times.

“I like the Caribbean, and my crew love coming with me,”
Baker said, with a big smile. “The weather is always great, 99% of the time you
have good wind, lots of competition – we get more competition down there than
we do back on the West Coast, the parties are great, it’s hard to beat
everything that the Caribbean has to offer!”

Andrew McIrvine, from the Isle of Wight, UK, is also a Spring
Regatta veteran returning to the event for the first time in some 20 years. He’s
chartered the Beneteau First 40 Olympia's Tigress, and will be
racing with his crew, Team
Larry.

“The boat we're chartering is a sister ship of my own boat in England on which
we’ve been very successful; we’ve won a lot of RORC and other European events
with my usual gang on board, we wonLes Voiles de Saint-Tropeza couple of years ago and Cowes
Week last year in our class. Tony Mack (Mack Fly) won class at Spring Regatta
last year on the same boat.”

The last time McIrvine sailed Spring Regatta was
on a Jeanneau 47 and he’d always wanted to do it again. As Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, McIrvine was
involved in the launching of the Caribbean 600 which he has competed in since
that race’s inception. This year he wanted to do something different, and will
have a team of 12 with him.

“It’s
probably too many but everyone wanted to come,” McIrvine laughed. “We’ve hired
a young foredeck guy as we’re mostly getting old so that should keep the front
end sorted out. I do have Tasmanians on board – not just Australians but
Tasmanians - so we could be in big trouble there. We expect to be reasonably
competitive if only I can only keep them off the rum!”

BVI
SPRING REGATTA & SAILING FESTIVALThe weeklong BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing
Festival takes racers throughout the beautiful British Virgin Islands. Starting
at Nanny Cay, the Sailing Festival is two days of warm up racing: The Nanny Cay
Round Tortola Race, and the Scrub Island Invitational. Next up, the BVI Spring
Regatta kicks off three solid days of some of the best racing the Caribbean has
to offer. Check out the 2017 Preliminary Schedule of Events.